


tender like a bruise

by madithewriter



Series: the first series [2]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alcohol, Blood and Injury, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-05
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-08-29 02:45:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8472499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madithewriter/pseuds/madithewriter
Summary: the first time Leonard takes care of Jim's injuries.
[ this series doesn't have to be read in order! ]





	

**Author's Note:**

> this wasn't proofread by anyone but me, so sorry for any mistakes. i do need a beta reader if anyone is up for the job! xx

Leonard isn’t supposed to be awake at well god-only-knows what hour when Jim stumbles into their shared dorm room smelling of alcohol and stained with fresh blood. But, of course, the contrary bastard is awake, his face dimly illuminated by his PADD. And when he speaks, it almost scares Jim out of his skin. It’s loud, more so than it is shocking, and it makes Jim’s head pound. 

“God damn it, Jim!” 

Jim’s beginning to realize that he’s way too sober for one of Leonard’s “what the hell were you thinking?” speeches that’s sure to include southern metaphors that make no damn sense, and Jim’s rather relieved when it doesn’t come. Leonard simply tosses his PADD onto his bed and moves towards the bathroom, returning with his medkit clutched in hand.

“Sit,” Leonard grumbles, propping his medkit open on the table beside Jim’s bed.

Jim sits without protest. He doesn’t even bother to pull off his boots, his knuckles are cracked open and aching, so he just watches Leonard rummage through the kit instead.

“You look like hell in a handbasket, kid,” Leonard says.

Jim breathes out a laugh - he can’t help himself - and asks, “What? That’s it?”

“You wanted sympathy, ya should’a gone to the damn clinic,”  Leonard drawls, leveling Jim with a glare that would make any other man cringe, but of course, Jim’s smirk just widens. 

“Why would I go there when I’ve got my own personal doctor in my dorm?” Jim asks.

Leonard shakes his head, pulling out a small bottle of peroxide to clean Jim’s split lip and hopefully get rid of that shit-eating grin as well. “Well what was the genius plan gonna be if I weren’t awake?” he asks.

Jim shrugs and answers, “Probably just pass out.”

Leonard rolls his eyes. He doesn’t want to encourage Jim with a sarcastic remark, so he focuses instead on Jim’s lip and biting his own tongue. He feels a sick kind of satisfaction when Jim winces, but it quickly fades into annoyance once again when Jim whines and slaps Leonard’s hand away.

“Stop,” he mumbles pathetically, “That hurts, Bones.”

“S’not supposed to feel good, kid,” Leonard retorts. “Now shut up. ‘M tryin’ to help you.”

Jim’s eyebrows furrow, but he doesn’t fight it when Leonard moves to clean his lip again. 

To Jim’s surprise, Leonard treats him with utter professionalism - well as much as he can before another bitter remark pushes its way through. He doesn’t ask questions because he simply doesn’t need to know the answers in order to attend to Jim’s injuries. And at first, Jim was relieved to realize that, but he comes to find that he can’t handle the silence, not when he’s so used to Leonard’s angry ramblings about one thing or the other.

“Not even gonna ask about the guy I gave an epic ass-kicking?” Jim asks finally.

Leonard’s glare flicks up from Jim’s lips to Jim’s eyes. “Didn’t I tell you to shut up?” he asks.

(Okay, yeah, definitely not  _ utter  _ professionalism.) 

Jim ignores him, of course. “Some dick at the bar - I don’t know what bar but that’s not important anyways - was all over this guy, wouldn’t leave him alone, ya know? Just bein’ a horny fuckin’ ass who refused to take no for an answer, so I - being a nice guy and all - I gotta say somethin’ -”

“Jim,” Leonard interrupts the story. “You’re wasted, and ‘m tired, so let me clean you up and you can tell me this tomorrow when we’ve both had some damn sleep.”

Jim hesitates but reluctantly mumbles, “Alright.”

Leonard does look tired, even Jim can see that in his drunken stupor, so he shuts up and just watches Leonard work. He watches how Leonard’s hands move the regenerator over his busted lip, never shaking, never hesitating, and how his brow furrows in concentration, and he just watches until Leonard stands packing everything back into his medkit.

Jim’s a little disappointed if he’s being honest. Some part of him wanted Leonard to nag him about this, maybe something about Jim having “no damn sense”, anything really, but it never came. 

“Get some sleep,” Leonard tells him, leaving his medkit on the table and moving to sit on his own bed. And Jim thinks that’s it as he watches Leonard tuck his forgotten PADD into a drawer in his desk, shut the lights off, and crawl under the sheets of his bed, until Leonard speaks into the darkness, voice low and rough. “I don’t know about  _ epic ass-kicking _ , but ‘m sure you did the right thing, kid. Just call me next time, alright? - before you do somethin’ real stupid.”

Jim smiles, and this time there’s no pain as his lip splits open a fraction wider. “Sure thing, Bones,” he answers.


End file.
